Ethan Darden on the mound, Cam Cannarella at the plate key clinching rivalry series

Cam Cannarella's efforts in the sixth inning gave Clemson a lead it wouldn't surrender

Grayson Mann - Staff Writer - Saturday, March 01 2025

GREENVILLE - The stakes of the rivalry in Fluor Field were high, but the gusts of wind might’ve been higher.

Despite the turbulent weather, Ethan Darden’s steady hand was enough to keep South Carolina at bay, clinching the series with a 5-1 victory.

Clemson has clinched the rivalry series, taking four straight against South Carolina dating back to last season.

Darden’s day appeared to be over before it could truly start, surrendering a double and walking two batters to begin the outing.

The Gamecocks had the bases loaded, and were ready to log runs to kick off this neutral site clash, but after a meeting at the mound, Darden settled in and erased South Carolina’s early momentum.

This encapsulated a struggle for both teams to get their offense on the board. Like South Carolina before them, Clemson had its chances with runners on base to add some runs, but couldn’t shake the heat from LHP Jake McCoy.

It appeared both ballclubs were headed for an extended drought, but Cam Cannarella had other plans.

With Dominic Listi on second base thanks to a sacrifice bunt from Josh Paino, Cannarella doubled a hit to left center field, giving Listi enough real estate to break the scoreless tie.

Cannarella’s sixth inning efforts didn’t stop there, as Gaffney’s ground out gave the striding junior a shot at home plate, and he took it, along with a 2-0 lead to give Clemson some much-needed cushion.

While the Tigers found enough success to maintain a lead, the Gamecocks struggled with capitalizing on several opportunities, leaving runners on in multiple innings.

That continued at the bottom of the seventh, as Clemson nearly lost control of the wheel with multiple errors, giving South Carolina runners first and second.

As he did for most of the afternoon, Darden settled the defense down, and gave his unit a chance to take care of the rest. The Gamecocks grounded out a hit to second base, creating a Tiger double play that once again silenced an inning with potential for momentum.

Darden closed his day after the seventh inning, posting six strikeouts, only surrendering three hits and zero runs.

RHP Drew Titsworth relieved Darden in the eighth, and that’s when South Carolina finally broke onto the scoreboard, with Ethan Petry notching a solo homer to cut Clemson’s lead to one.

The Tigers found a way to match Petry’s homer at the top of the ninth, as Jacob Jarrell ripped his hit to left center, bringing home Luke Gaffney to reclaim some cushion they lost.

The offense wasn’t done there, adding two more runs, securing a lead that was too much to overcome, and the series with it.